Michael Cockerill is Football Writer for The Sydney Morning Herald
Ange Postecoglou likes living on the edge. No, let me re-phrase that. He loves it. So he's got what he wished for. A loss to United Arab Emirates in Sydney, and the prospect of the Socceroos missing out on the World Cup is better than real. The pressure pot is boiling. Let's see if anyone gets burned.
Does the A-League have the worst behaviour on the sidelines in the world? Could be. Six of the 10 clubs have now had their coaches banned or fined during the season. And it's not just coaches.
Dane Ingham has made history, as far as I can tell. The first player to choose to play for New Zealand rather than Australia. As the debate swirls about whether the youth system is nearing collapse, what should we read into this?
Who can save Wellington Phoenix? Not Rob Morrison, I fear. The chairman of a club which almost passed into history last season is showing few signs of learning from the bruising experience.
A second division is off and running, whether Football Federation Australia likes it or not.
Instead of talking about a third Sydney team joining the A-League, everyone's talking about Wollongong. Unloved and unwanted for more than a decade, all of a sudden there's a tug of war for the Steel City's affections.
Bobo scores the goal which should deliver Sydney FC their first silverware after seven barren years, and I'm thinking, once again: "Maybe this will finally make some people see sense." Maybe.
So Ange Postecoglou is going to have to save the game. Again.
Forget the debate about whether a salary cap is good or bad for the A-League. The real arm's race has already taken off. It's in the semi-pro ranks of the National Premier Leagues, where competitions in NSW and Victoria in particular are gearing up for day when they might get the chance to join the A-League in their own right.
Enough is enough. Players milk penalties. And yet as the honour system in the A-League disintegrates week-by-week, who gets the blame? Not, mostly, the players. Rather those who are supposed to see it, in a split second. Am I missing something here?
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